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Friday, October 7, 2011

Do you know of entities occupying bodies not their own? Some of you might think this is a case of possession, as in spirit possession. Please don't be alarmed or scared. We might not need exorcists here!

This is a case of squatters in others' houses called hermit crabs. They are called such because they inhabit abandoned sea shells. They are crustaceans with ten feet (decapods) and have very soft and vulnerable body. So when disturbed they immediately retract inside the shell for protection. They also grow and increase in size, so growth allows them to abandon the old shell and find another bigger one. What is amazing about them is the drama during the time of transfer to bigger shells. When a new bigger shell is found, many of them gather around it or queue from biggest to smallest. As soon as the largest crab moves into the new shell, the 2nd largest moves into the newly vacated shell, making its old house available for the size next to it, and so on. It would be nice to document that event, how i wish to find them doing that, but i didn't.

Most of you will remember my post a few weeks ago about my trip to an island at the south of the country, where i saw a big Crinum lily. I found a lot of these creatures resting the whole day in leaf axils of that big white crinum lily. I disturbed their silence to take some photos. At high tide in the afternoon, they quickly crawled out to the water. I just don't know if it is the water or the absence of sunlight which triggered them to leave the sanctuary of the crinum lily.

This is the white big Crinum lily

a lot of the hermit crabs with different shapes and types of shells converged inside the leaf axils

They normally stopp when disturbed or touched, retract and hide inside their shell

This one, though reluctant, still obliged to pose. Take note of the already worn out shell, maybe it has been home already to many generation of inhabitants.

29 comments:

This crab is practicing Recycling which is very enviro-friendly, hehehe! Seeing the giant crinum lily reminds me of my childhood days, my head among the leafy folds of white spider lilies looking for fighting spiders - a game I play with the boys, I mean helping to catch spiders, not spider fighting!

AB's recycling term is cute yet true. I have seem a whole group of them fighting. The biggest shell was surrounded by smaller ones of various sizes. A few of them switched shells....smaller to bigger... Didn't look like a recycling scene though, more like fighting for a bigger house to live in. They were all at the beach. Surprised to see that you found them on crinum lilies.

Now that is a gaint Lily! Wow! Great pictures and story. I use to pick up hermit crabs on the beach as a kid and play with them. Always wanted to see one out of the shell but never did. Ha Ha! Have a great weekend.Randy

Indie- You are giving me more thoughts to ponder on! That is impossible for anybody, i guess. But i am sure it is in the sea! And very sure it is on Earth, haha!

Autumn Belle - you are very right! Everything in the universe has a purpose, it was just so unthinkable for the creator of things to have thought about that! And we played with them too as kids.

Randy - To tell you frankly, even if i know of hermit crabs, i just learned of the 10 legs when about to post this, as i searched on it a bit. Before, i thought they could be like the octopus or arachnids, 8 legged. At least blogging teach us some things too!

One - Oh so you have seen them, maybe you are one of the very few privileged who saw that. Maybe Donna hasn't seen your comment when she did her comment here. She will later realize you got ahead and got more points!!!

Thank you so much Andrea for coming by my blog and commenting! My daughter is a budding photographer, and I thought the designs in the sand made a very interesting shot. We were fascinated with the huge clumps of seaweed and the crustacean shells we found inside them. I love your two beach pictures in your next post. How fascinating about the hermit crabs, though, lining up in queue to change shells! It would truly be wonderful to catch them at this time and photograph it. Loved that you found so many hiding in the lily. The info was great and I loved the pictures. Please visit me again! All my best--

Hi, Andrea, thanks for visiting my blog and commenting. I always love visitors, and hope they will return to see our travels.Hermit crabs in a garden! That's a fascinating post for Camera Critters. I've never heard of such a thing before, and I like the close-up shot. Thanks for telling us about them, and about the huge lily plant.

Oh i forgot the other commenters, thought i already did, sorry about that.

Mark and Gaz - yes they are already exotic to you because you might have been there already for a long time.

Tina - that episode in their culture would really be a lovely scene to watch, i hope i will still have time to watch it in the future.

Donna - yes it is a bit unusual, but if your garden is in a small island it is common.

The Sage Butterfly - they are not so happy to see me, but i nudged and force them to pose, haha!

b_a_g - actually at their posterior end they have a claw-like structure to firmly clutch on the shell, I just don't know if it was adaptation structure or already there on creation.

pumpkydine - will you believe that i also haven't seen one outside their shell. When we were kids we used to pull them, but they retract more. Some kids crack the shell to see them, but i dont have a memory of the naked hermit crab now!

Holley Garden - that's a very nice thing to say about them, almost wise, and their namesake of course are wise, the hermits!

SR - you sure are hungry! I heard some kids make them as baits "sa pamimingwit". I forgot the English word for that fishing style, with a pole plus line and hook in shallow waters.

Around here, they are popular aquarium/terrarium pets and the kids go to the beach to find larger and larger shells. They are quite popular at school where the kids have class pets like hermit crabs and hamsters. My kids would sometimes have the special privilege of bringing home the pet for the summer to pet sit during summer vacation. We got the hamsters, not the hermit crabs... my nephews always had them for pets though!

They are great pets for kids as they are fun to watch and live a long time.

Shalom Andrea. The last picture is especially amazing. That old and beautiful shell gives us something to ponder. Your creatures and plants look so exotic to me. Jerusalem unfortunately has no body of water for such things to grow in or around. Thanks for your visit.

WELCOME!

You are welcome to my blog. Your comments, suggestions and/or advice are surely appreciated. I am from the Philippines, a hot tropical climate, and this blog is a mixture of travels, photos and a lot more from here and abroad. I hope you enjoy it.